Today at 3pm, Nottingham Forest make the trip to South Yorkshire to take on Sheffield United in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final.
On both occasions that the teams have faced each other this season, they have drawn 1-1, so there is nothing to split the two sides going into today’s clash.
With the stakes now raised, it really will be a case of stick or twist for both managers coming into this fixture.
Injury news
As per Nottinghamshire Live, both Ryan Yates and Jack Colback will be available to feature in the Reds’ match against the Blades at Bramall Lane this afternoon.
Speaking about the health of his squad going into the crucial play-off clash, and addressing the aforementioned duo to begin with, Forest manager Steve Cooper said:
“They are making progress. We’ll give them every chance to be available. They’re obviously desperate to play, as you can imagine. Everybody is desperate to play.
“Max [Lowe], Keinan [Davis] and Lewis [Grabban] are as they were, still injured. Scott [McKenna] is fine – he was fine to be on the bench last week. Djed [Spence] is the same. And Steve Cook will be available. He had some personal stuff going on and he cracked his head open at Bournemouth, so he didn’t play at Hull for a couple of reasons. But he’s back with us now and is looking good.”
Will Forest get promoted this season?
Forest predicted XI
Will Cooper make any changes to the team which started in the 1-1 draw against Hull City last Saturday? Here is how we at Football Fancast believe Nottingham Forest will line up in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final game against Sheffield United.
Forest XI (3-4-1-2): Samba – Worrall, Cook, McKenna – Spence, Yates, Garner, Colback – Zinckernagel – Johnson, Surridge
Our predicted XI sees Forest make seven changes from the side which drew 1-1 with Hull City last time out, with Cooper having rested many of his starters a week ago in order to have them ready for this very game.
With the positive injury boost regarding Yates and Colback, they are expected to slot straight back in, with the likes of Brennan Johnson, Spence, Cook, McKenna and £12.7k-per-week “machine” Sam Surridge all expected to retain their usual starting positions in a 3-4-1-2 system. The likes of Xande Silva, Alex Mighten, Joe Lolley, Cafu, Richie Laryea, Jonathan Panzo and Tobias Figueiredo all drop out, having started against Hull in Cooper’s rotated line-up last time out.
The 42-year-old is expected to deploy his strongest line-up for what is the most important game of the Reds’ season so far, and arguably, this is his best XI.
In other news: Forest can land the new McKenna in “outstanding” 19-year-old prodigy, Cooper surely ecstatic
